Chapter 821

PS: I finished writing this super long chapter of 6500 words in one go, and now I feel relieved.

"You guys still remember, right? Back in the Ikebukuro Family Extermination Case, we encountered that Deep Sea Phantom Guest, Sakuma Kaito."

Date Nagamune took a deep breath and said solemnly: "At that time, two police officers died in the line of duty in this case: one was Kikuchi Fūma, Police Sergeant, and the other was Yamada Yuki, Police Sergeant."

"Yeah, that's right." Kai Toru nodded, holding his chin: "Both were later posthumously promoted to Police Inspector and buried as martyrs. This case also involved the bulletproof vest scandal, which was dubbed the biggest corruption case since the Heisei era. Six National Diet members and one cabinet minister resigned in disgrace, and the total amount of corruption uncovered ran into hundreds of billions of yen, even reaching two hundred billion."

"Exactly, so you guys must still remember, right? As for Kikuchi Fūma, I won't even mention him—he was unmarried back then, although many women came forward claiming to be his fiancée, but our Metropolitan Police Department didn't recognize any of them. There were even jokes online saying these people had all fallen for the 'Mo Method.'" Date Nagamune laughed: "In the end, the condolence payment was probably around 40 million yen, plus a series of other benefits for martyrs' families, but that's not what I'm talking about today." Everyone pursed their lips—Japan isn't France, and it doesn't recognize "de facto cohabitation" at all. You say you're a martyr's widow? Then produce your marriage certificate and naturalization proof!

"I'm talking about Yamada Yuki, do you guys still remember? Unlike Kikuchi Fūma, Yamada Yuki had a wife, and that's Yamada Nanase, who currently works as an Administrative Female Officer in the Personnel Division of the Metropolitan Police Department!" Date Nagamune's eyes gleamed as he said seriously: "Don't you think she's perfect for this?" "Yamada Nanase? Yamada Nanase… Yamada Nanase!!!"

The people at the dinner table couldn't help but let out soft, low exclamations.

Yamada Nanase graduated from high school and neither pursued further education nor held a formal job—she soon met Yamada Yuki, fell in love, got married, and naturally became a housewife.

They had no children, and their marriage was short-lived; they hadn't even had time to start a family. Her daily routine was making her husband's bento every morning, seeing him off, then cleaning the house, doing laundry, buying groceries, cooking, and occasionally having afternoon tea with neighboring housewives.

She had a Twitter and Instagram account, which she started using before marriage. Her posts were ordinary—what she cooked that day, which café she visited, what dress she bought, and occasionally a selfie, smiling sweetly with her eyes crinkled, like a young wife who didn't have to worry about anything and was well protected.

After her husband died in the line of duty, everything changed.

According to the "Special Employment for Police Survivors" regulation, the Metropolitan Police Department arranged a position for Yamada Nanase—an administrative official in the General Affairs Section of the Personnel Division.

Though called an administrative official, it was actually the most basic clerical job: serving tea, delivering documents, handling photocopies, cleaning conference rooms. She had no professional skills, and her education wasn't sufficient. She got this job solely because she was the widow of a fallen officer. Colleagues treated her kindly, but that kindness carried a subtle, uncomfortable undertone—not sympathy, but a tacit "you're just this anyway."

Within the Metropolitan Police Department, she had a nickname: "Pigeon," because she was seen as soft, cute, and dove-like—but also timid and shrinking, and Yamada Nanase herself obviously realized this.

She began studying for the Administrative Scrivener qualification—the highest-level national certification a high school graduate could aim for. If she passed, she could leverage her survivor status and local civil servant qualifications to become a permanent "General Affairs Section Female Officer" in the non-career track.

Although still a General Affairs Section Female Officer, this would already be a regular civil servant position with official staffing.

According to Date, she took the exam once and failed.

She's still preparing for the second attempt, but those who know her well know she's not naturally gifted at studying. She works extremely hard, really hard—she reads late into the night after work every day—but there's always a wall between her effort and her results that she just can't seem to climb over.

"She is a……" Date Nagamune searched for the right word, finally choosing one that was blunt but accurate: ……an ordinary person. Someone with no special talents, a soft and cute personality, and an utterly average young beautiful widow."

He set down his beer cup and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the tabletop.

"But precisely because of this, she perfectly matches all the conditions we need."

He began listing them one by one, speaking not quickly but with crystal-clear logic, as if presenting a case analysis report.

"First, she's married—although her husband has passed away, her marital history is real. She was a housewife, she has firsthand experience and memory of that role, and this is crucial. A female officer who's never married, no matter how convincing her act, will always slip up in some subtle detail. But Yamada Nanase doesn't need to act—she simply is."

Everyone nodded in agreement—indeed, Yamada Nanase doesn't need to act; she simply is a housewife!

"Second, she has no children. This means if we involve her in an operation, she won't have to worry about her children's safety or have any lingering concerns. Her husband is dead, her parents are in their hometown, and in Tokyo, she has no one she needs to care for."

"Third, she's had a social media account for years—since before her marriage, now seven or eight years running. Her account shows her life trajectory—marriage, becoming a housewife, her husband's death, joining the Metropolitan Police Department, failing the Administrative Scrivener exam, continuing to study. This is genuine historical data, not a hastily fabricated fake account. Any killer wanting to dig into her background would see a complete, unforgeable timeline."

Date Nagamune raised his fourth finger.

"Fourth, her current social media status—how to put it—she's in a very delicate position. Her husband died, but she hasn't loudly proclaimed it on social media. Her account went silent for nearly half a year after his death, then slowly resumed posting. The content shifted from that of a happy young wife's daily life to that of a single woman struggling in Tokyo. She's posted photos of organizing documents in the General Affairs Section office, buying coffee at a convenience store late at night, and her Administrative Scrivener exam study guide, with captions like 'Today I must push forward.' This shift from 'happy housewife to independent woman' is in itself a highly compelling narrative."

He paused, picked up his beer cup, took a sip, and cleared his throat.

"But the most critical point is fifth—there's no trace of remarriage on her social media. No new romantic partner, no new family life, nothing at all. This means we can craft a 'remarriage' persona for her from scratch, building a new social media identity. Her original account can remain as a 'past' record, while we create a new one to showcase her 'new life.' If a killer investigates her, they'll see a complete, flawless life trajectory from past to present."

Date Nagamune clenched his five fingers into a fist.

"In short, Yamada Nanase is a natural, ready-made, no-disguise-needed 'target' that people will instinctively believe is real. She's not bait we manufactured—she already is. We're just placing her in the right spot so the killer comes to her."

The izakaya fell silent.

Uesugi Muneyuki leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on the ceiling, mentally reviewing each point Date Nagamune had made. Okada Masayoshi's brows knotted into a lump, but the shape wasn't opposition—it was the turmoil of "I can't find a reason to refute this." Ikeda Erena crossed her arms, her gaze fixed on a nonexistent point on the table, her lips slightly pursed.

But without exception, including Uesugi Muneyuki, everyone looked at Date Nagamune with contempt and dangerous eyes.

You pervert!

If you can't get it, you destroy it, right?

【38> You're terrifying!!

You're too terrifying!

But… maybe we can try.

The group turned again to Okada Masayoshi, since they still needed someone familiar with Metropolitan Police Department regulations to assess feasibility.

Okada Masayoshi remained silent for a long time, his fingers tapping lightly on the table—once, twice, three times—with a steady rhythm like a metronome. "Date," he finally said, voice calm and unhurried: "What you said has no logical loopholes. But I have a problem—no, let's not call it a problem; let's call it a hurdle we can't get past."

He looked at Date Nagamune, his eyes holding a rare, complex emotion.

"Who is Yamada Nanase? She's one of our survivors. Her husband died wearing this uniform, shot by a criminal. She now serves tea, handles photocopies in the General Affairs Section, and struggles to study for a certification she may never pass. She's had no police training, never held a gun, never confronted a suspect, and can't even speak loudly. She's just a soft, cute, ordinary woman." His voice dropped.

"You want to turn someone like her—no talent, no formal training, and still a survivor's relative—into bait? To face a group of serial killers who've already murdered seven people?"

Date Nagamune opened his mouth but didn't answer immediately, knowing Okada Masayoshi's concern wasn't bureaucratic buck-passing, but a genuine, heartfelt desire to protect a survivor's family.

Such protectiveness is rare in the Special Mission Division—Okada Masayoshi isn't the type to easily show emotion, but he once faced Sakuma Kaito's short sword with his own body.

Just then, Maeda Toshihide spoke up.

"Management Officer." His voice wasn't loud, but clear, carrying a young man's blunt honesty—unafraid to misspeak—and also a kind of spoiled-heir arrogance, as if heaven and earth couldn't scare him, since he indeed had the backing: "I have an idea, maybe not fully formed, but I still want to say it." Okada Masayoshi looked at him, said nothing, and gave a slight nod.

"Yamada Nanase has been studying for the Administrative Scrivener qualification, right? She failed the first try and is still preparing for the second. Why is she pushing so hard for this cert? Because she wants a legitimate standing in this world, not to forever be just 'the widow of a fallen officer.' She wants to move up from serving tea in the General Affairs Section to a role requiring real professional skills—even if it's just the most basic Administrative Scrivener." Maeda Toshihide leaned forward slightly, hands braced on the table: "Isn't our Special Mission Division short-staffed anyway?"

"If— I'm saying if— this operation succeeds, could we apply to superiors to specially recruit her into the Special Mission Division? Not doing odd jobs in the General Affairs Section, but as an official General Affairs staff member of the Special Mission Division. The Special Mission Division is the Metropolitan Police Department's elite unit—working here is itself a mark of status and recognition. If she gets in, she won't need to take the Administrative Scrivener exam anymore—or rather, she could work and study gradually, without having to push herself to the brink as she does now."

He glanced at Uesugi Muneyuki, then at Okada Masayoshi.

"And, Management Officer, you just said she's 'soft and cute'—isn't that perfect? Matsumoto Yumi and Takahashi Mi aren't they just ordinary, harmless, 'housewife'-looking women? If we put a sharp female detective in the role, she wouldn't convince. The more ordinary, the more harmless, the more people let their guard down—and the more like a real target she becomes. Yamada Nanase doesn't need to act—she already is."

He sat up straight, revealing a smile tinged with the domineering, arrogant aura unique to navy personnel.

"If we tried to pass off someone like Ikeda San—someone with a sharp, fierce gaze and a particularly sharp, professional female aura—as a housewife, would anyone believe it? What a joke! With just one look, she could snap my waist and twist my head into my… you know what. How could she ever become a killer's target?"

"Tsk!" Ikeda Erena snorted lightly through her nose, unsure whether Maeda was praising or insulting her, but she was pleased to be seen as a true professional woman and a formidable officer.

And Maeda Toshihide grew more and more excited, more and more impassioned as he spoke.

The fate of the Special Mission Division hangs on this one move! It's time to gamble the nation's fate!

Pigeon! Pigeon! Pigeon!

Damn killer! I, Maeda Toshihide, will smash your crooked butt and your American dream!

All under heaven! Seven lives for the country! Victory! Crush the arrogant enemy! Full speed ahead!!!

Commissioner! Why won't this cabin door open?!

"And again, what is our Special Mission Division? We are the ace of the Metropolitan Police Department. With Mr. Uesugi here, with Senior Ikeda here, with Lord Date and me here, plus Senior Nangō, Senior Kai, and Management Officer Okada—so many people around her, what could happen to her?" Okada Masayoshi looked at Maeda Toshihide's young face and fell silent for a long time.

He wanted to refute.

He wanted to say "This isn't playing house," "This isn't gambling with the lives of bereaved families," "You're too young to know what real risk is." But these words reached his lips, only to be blocked by a single thought—Maeda Toshihide was right, Yamada Nanase didn't need to act; she simply was. A perfect, flawless, natural target.

He turned his head to look at Uesugi Muneyuki.

Uesugi Muneyuki had not spoken a word since earlier.

His fingers unconsciously drew circles on the rim of his cup, his gaze fixed on some nonexistent point on the desk surface, as if in his mind he had run through the entire plan from first step to last, complete and whole.

Then he lifted his head.

"Okada." He said.

Okada Masayoshi looked at him.

"Maeda makes sense." Uesugi Muneyuki's voice was not loud, but each word was like the calm before the Battle of Kawanakajima: "Yamada Nanase is the most suitable person we can currently find. Her background, her experience, her social media history—these cannot be forged, and they are the most withstandable to investigation. If we temporarily hire a female officer to build a persona from scratch, just the social media history data would require at least half a year of groundwork, and we cannot wait that long."

He paused, his finger finishing the last circle on the cup's rim and stopping.

"Furthermore, Maeda's special recruitment proposal is not without precedent. The scope of special employment by bereaved families originally includes 'those who have made outstanding contributions in special missions.' If this operation succeeds, we have sufficient grounds to apply to the Personnel Division."

He lifted his eyes, his gaze calmly sweeping over everyone present.

"Therefore, we will center on Yamada Nanase and construct an entirely new core persona."

He reached into his pocket, pulled out that small notebook, turned to a fresh page, and placed the pen tip on the paper, beginning to write line by line.

"First, basic setting. Yamada Nanase, twenty-eight years old, her ex-husband Yamada Yuki died in the line of duty two years ago in the 'Deep Sea Phantom Guest' incident. She entered the Metropolitan Police Department's General Affairs Section as a bereaved family member, but two months ago—or rather, in our established timeline—she remarried. Her remarriage partner is a financial elite working at a foreign investment bank within Tokyo Metropolis, with an annual income of over 12 million yen, around forty years old, divorced, and has a child living with his ex-wife. The two met through a dating app, dated for half a year before marrying, and after marriage they live in a detached house owned by her husband in either Saitama Prefecture or Gunma Prefecture." Kai Toru frowned slightly: "Annual income of 12 million yen? The Matsumoto and Takahashi families' income levels are roughly between 8 million and 10 million yen—why are we raising it?"

Uesugi Muneyuki's pen did not stop.

"Because we need to create a psychological gap. Matsumoto Yumi and Takahashi Mi are women displaying 'middle-class happiness' on social media, and their ostentation is already enough to catch the killer's eye. If we elevate Yamada Nanase's persona to 'upper class,' that sense of oppression—'I live better than you'—will be stronger. The killer's hatred for such people will be greater, and the likelihood of them taking the bait will increase."

He lifted his head and glanced at Kai Toru.

"This is called 'psychological stimulation threshold increase.' Numerical inflation is not without reason."

Just as the earlier text said, to make readers feel stimulated, Zhang Leshan went from being a small bandit head of a dozen people to a 'mountain eagle' with a mountain stronghold and over a hundred subordinates, then to a president with over a thousand armed soldiers, complete with airplanes, cannons, and tanks, and if inflated further, he could be renamed Zhang Zuolin.

But this is reality. Take, for example, English praise: from 'good' to 'great' to 'perfect' to 'excellent' then to 'incredible,' 'brilliant,' 'marvellous'—the superlative is always rising and being created. Kai Toru opened his mouth, then closed it.

Indeed, since following Uesugi Muneyuki, how come I've grown accustomed to the feeling that vicious murder cases break out every day in Japan?

Uesugi Muneyuki continued writing.

"Second, residential environment. We need to find a detached house in a remote area—preferably one where neighbors are far apart, with a large yard, and from the outside you can tell 'this family is very wealthy.' The house could be borrowed from the police, or temporarily leased under the pretense of 'company housing provided by the husband's firm.' What matters is that this house must be physically easy to surveil and easy to stake out, yet simultaneously make the killer feel 'this is an easy target to attack.' Too easy to discover and it's a trap; too hard to approach and they won't come. We need to find a just-right balance point."

"Third, social media strategy. Yamada Nanase's original account will be retained as proof of the 'past,' and we will additionally create a new Instagram account, starting from two months ago and reverse-posting to gradually display her 'new life'—new house, new car, luxury goods bought by her new husband, luxurious home renovations, the refined meals she prepares in her new home. All posts must be carefully designed: they must convey a sense of ostentation, yet also an unintentional, natural feeling of 'I'm just sharing my happy life.'"

He wrote to this point, paused, and held the pen tip above the paper.

"Most importantly, this account must display a 'combative' trait. Not actively attacking others, but when facing negative comments, showing no retreat. One must feel that this woman is very happy, yet also very proud, looking down on those inferior to her. This persona will be like a red cloth, waving before the killer's eyes."

"I will delete negative comments, block and delete them in one go, opening and closing with remarks like 'life is not going well.'"

Ikeda Erena leaned back in her chair, watching Uesugi Muneyuki's side profile as he wrote, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly: "You've even worked out the social media operation strategy—what exactly do you usually do?"

Uesugi Muneyuki did not answer this question.

He closed the notebook, returned the pen to his inner pocket, and lifted his head.

"The core of the persona—Yamada Nanase is a woman who 'remarried extremely well.' Her ex-husband was a police officer who died in the line of duty, her current husband is a high-income financial elite. Her life experience is a rise from rock bottom to peak, she now lives better than anyone else, and she does not hide this fact." "As for security, we will come ourselves, and also request cooperation from Public Security Police." Uesugi Muneyuki looked toward Okada Masayoshi.

"Can do." Okada Masayoshi had nothing more to say: "The final problem is, regarding Yamada Nanase's side... who will go speak to her?"

"I will." Uesugi Muneyuki said with a light laugh: "I'll go back and find Minami, and have her tell Assistant Police Inspector Kashiwagi Misa at the Personnel Division side that she knows Yamada Nanase well and will agree."

The men present all wore expressions of relief mixed with slight embarrassment.

Yamada Nanase, it's your turn! For everyone's sake, please make a small sacrifice!

Thus, the people agreed.

And at this very moment, the television in the izakaya was playing a program, the camera happening to pan to Miyawaki Sakura—the No. 2 female lead of *Hand of God*, Xiao Ying, now nationally famous, exactly in her proud and heroic posture, peak condition, striding forward to assist, clearing the path as vanguard, unmatched double-bladed axe, single-handedly brushing through all prime-time variety shows and various advertising endorsements.

"Date, you really have something." Kai Toru said strangely: "I didn't expect you to spend all day voyeuristically idol social networks and still come out with insights! You tell me, do you or don't you have some ulterior motive toward Miss Yamada?"

"You also surf the net? Are you GG or MM?? I'm dizzy, replying so slowly, 886, I'm going to eat, hehe." Uesugi Muneyuki also said with a laugh: "I'm wholly devoted to Akane-chan!" Date Nagamune revealed a resolute gaze: "We old Peerage, we just like this kind of pure Young Lady!" "Come on, who knows? This kind of woman who came alone to Tokyo, she's the most easily polluted." Maeda Toshihide said with a cold laugh: "Right, Uesugi-san? You know Miyawaki Sakura and the idol side, you definitely know, this kind of little idol doesn't even have the qualifications for pillow business!"

"Right, Uesugi-san definitely knows! What if? I'm saying what if! What if Xiao Ying is still a fresh and pure Xiao Ying?" Date Nagamune said, unwilling to yield: "Akane-chan definitely also... at least her spirit is pure..."

"I'll be damned, Sakura really is that." Uesugi Muneyuki was calculating how to talk to Yamada Nanase tomorrow when someone called him, and he instinctively replied: "She just went to St. Luke's International Hospital a few days ago for a gynecological examination."

Okada Masayoshi: "?"

Ikeda Erena, Kai Toru: "??"

Date Nagamune, Maeda Toshihide: "?????"